What Australia Post actually says: it does not charge customers a small fee over SMS to release a parcel. Australia Post has also officially removed clickable links from its SMS messages — if a delivery text contains a link, it's a scam.
How the fake Australia Post text works
Step 1
The small, believable fee
Amounts like $1.99, $2.99 or $4.99 are deliberately low — small enough that most people pay without a second thought.
Step 2
The false deadline
"Confirm within 24 hours or your parcel will be returned" pushes you to act before you check.
Step 3
The fake payment page
The link opens a page that looks like Australia Post, asking you to "pay and release" your parcel with full card details.
Step 4
The theft
Your card number, expiry and CVV are captured directly — there was never a real parcel or a real fee.
How to spot it
- Any link in a delivery text: Australia Post has removed clickable links from its SMS entirely — a link means it's fake.
- A fee to "release" or "redeliver" a parcel: genuine redelivery through Australia Post is arranged via the official app or website, never a small SMS-linked fee.
- Sender using a personal name or generic email instead of an official Australia Post domain, if it arrived by email rather than SMS.
What to do if you get this text
- Don't click, don't enter any card details.
- Check the real way: track any genuine parcel directly via the Australia Post app or auspost.com.au, typed manually.
- Report it to Australia Post's scam alerts page and to Scamwatch.
- If you already paid, contact your bank or card issuer immediately to block the card and dispute the charge.
Egidio: your automatic phishing detector
These texts work because a small fee feels too trivial to question. Egidio catches the fake link before it can do anything.
Egidio screens incoming calls and scans links arriving through your messaging apps in real time. When it recognises a fake delivery or payment page, it blocks it before it loads.
Install Egidio